Can a New Mom Afford to Stay Home? Find Out.

Thinking of Leaving Your Job to Stay at Home With Baby? Can You?

Schlepping off each day to a job you really don’t love and having to leave your baby at a daycare is not only a huge bummer, but your wallet takes a beating too. Seems like your baby is always getting sick because he/she is exposed to every cootie on the planet at a daycare (no matter how clean it is – kids are germ-y, snotty, poopy, sneeze-y….’nuff said).

So you’re weighing your options. You’re teetering on quitting your job. You’ve talked to your husband about wanting to stay at home. Actually you’ve driven him batty about it, because you’re getting a little obsessed. It’s your child after all! You asked your mom what she thought, maybe your aunt. They’ve all pretty much said – “If you can afford it, then do it.”

Bottom line.
You can’t afford to stay at home. ::sigh::

I know. I was in this EXACT same work at home predicament less than 10 years ago. WAY before telecommuting was as popular as it is now. WAY before everyone and their uncle had a laptop.

You refuse to give up. So you’ve added up the bills (over and over). You’ve vowed to cut coupons and you swear you don’t need cable. But it all adds up the same. You’re still short a few hundred a month and that’s bare minimum. What if the dog eats a chocolate bar and needs taken to the vet ER? What if the hot water heater dies? The car needs tires? It could throw your entire budget into a tailspin that might lead to late notices and credit damage.

This is not a decision that you can simply “think” it will work. You have to KNOW. Because it’s just common sense that financial problems destroy lives, marriages… and that’s serious.

So how can you make staying at home happen?

I know realistically you can make money online, but it takes real commitment and a lot of referring. It also will never probably equal your current paycheck. BUT, you can certainly do surf and earn programs and have that cash deposited into your PayPal account month after month as cushion money or save it for holidays, vacations.

Let me start with a few money saving tips and just get that out of the way:

1. DO NOT quit your job. It’s tempting I know. But don’t.
2. Do begin to reduce your monthly budget where ever you can.
3. Clip coupons
4. Plan meals for the week! Including desserts and snacks.
5. Cancel the newspaper
6. See what features you can take off your cellphone to reduce the bill.
7.Take off premium channels that you’re being charged for on your cable bill.
8. Cancel magazine subscriptions
9. Keep the heat low and wear a jacket and keep baby bundled and toasty too.
10. No more daily fancy coffees if you get them. Make it a once a week treat.
11. Stop needless spending. Get books and videos at the library for instance. It’s free!
12. Check out stores you might not have ever tried like Sav-More, Amazing Savings, Aldi.
13. Start baking and cooking more if you don’t already. Fast food sucks any way and it’s not healthy.
14. Movie night can be at home and can be just as romantic and WAY less expensive.
15. Gym memberships are NOT a necessity. You can work out at home, push the stroller etc.
16. Turn the lights off when you’re not in a room – honestly – we are all guilty of this.
17. A shower should not take more than 10 minutes, this includes shaving your legs!
18. See if you have local food co-ops
19. Start a garden, even if it’s just herbs. Learn to can.
20. Learn to love thrift stores. Don’t be a snob! I’ve found designer clothes and purses at Goodwill.
21. Sign up for an eBay account and turn unwanted DVDs, books, knick-knacks etc into cash.
22. Credit cards become an emergency only financial tool. Pedicures, purses and cosmetics are not emergencies.
23. Many grocery stores allow you to snag the current week’s and next week’s sales if you shop after 6pm on Saturday. ( Call and ask. )
24. Homemade pizza is better.
25. Think about how much you are SAVING – it’s not a race to see how much you can SPEND.

When you have this mindset in place and these suggestions above are not a painful idea for you – you’re on your way to becoming
a stay at home mom.

Maybe Your New Stay at Home Job is Already in Front of You?

Now – the next thing I suggest might be impossible for some – but if it’s an option for you, try it.

Go to your boss and ask if telecommuting a few days a week is a possibility.  Go in prepared. Look at this from his/her point of few.
Do you have the equipment, can you productively work unsupervised, can you work around the baby’s sleep schedule and what about when the child is older? Do you need quiet space to work – and will you have that? This is not something you just bring up – you need
to go into this like it’s a presentation. I’m serious, if you REALLY want to stay at home with baby, then give it 100% effort.

If this is NOT an option. Don’t fret.

The Online Job Search Begins

Your next step is to start looking for an online job that suits your skills, home office and lifestyle. Of course, it goes without saying, the job
needs to pay enough to meet your families budget with a small cushion at minimum.

I cannot stress enough to take your job search seriously. If you want to compete, you need to ask yourself – who else will be going for this job? Guess what – if it’s a work at home position that pays halfway decent – you’re competing with a 100 or more people. What makes you so special? Figure it out, get it on a resume and cover letter and start applying.

It can take over a year to find something that works for you or to get hired. In this economy, sadly, it’s gotten tough to find jobs offline, let alone ONLINE. Try to not get discouraged about the opportunity to stay at homeand keep finding ways to save at home, pay off debt and keep improving your resume. Taking training classes can be an option to add more skills and assets to your resume. There are many online classes offered by trade schools and universities these days.